Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Something nice & a short break

If you have been following my blog, you would have probably noticed what I am really into right now. Yup, you said it! Decorative cupcakes. :) I really enjoy making these cute cupcakes and seeing the end result plus the smiles on the recipient is the best reward I can get.;) It might be hard to for some to understand as this is quite a time consuming thing, just to be done on small little cakes. But I find decorating cupcakes are much more intricate and more variety in decorations. Furthermore it lets everyone have their own "edible" art to enjoy rather then just cutting out a slice of a big cake which probably have "destroyed" the art on the cake. :-P Don't get me wrong, I still love to make big cakes...just that it's hard to slice into one nicely decorated one sometimes, hahaha! Since it's my niece and my sister-in-law's birthday this week, I seize the opportunity to make something nice for them. Cupcakes of course. ;)
This is again one of those really pressing for time kind of thing. So pardon my lighting for the pictures. Decided to make only a dozen of these cupcakes because bringing it down to Singapore can be quite a challenge! Worrying if the fondant will melt is a major concern and furthermore not wanting to accidentally "destroy" the cupcakes during the whole trip can be pretty stressful! But good thing it was safely delivered to my niece and SIL's hands. *phew*
I am so glad they like the cupcakes I made for them....really paid off all the effort I put in to making them. ;) Happy Birthday Andrea & Veronica! Hope you both have a wonderful and blissful birthday this year!Besides the cupcakes I made for my niece and my SIL. I had some left over batter which I made into smaller cupcakes and piped some simple designs for my friend's kids to enjoy. :) Looking at the colours itself can really bring a smile on anyone's face. ;)

I shan't go on too long on this post as I have some urgent stuff I need to attend to. But just some heads up that I will be taking a break for a few days. So will not be putting up any post for awhile. No worries, be back real soon and will be posting up more interesting and yummy stuff for all to see. ;) For now, stay cheerful and healthy guys! See you all soon!

Cendol Cheesecake & Parmesan cheese cookies

It's like a super rush week for me (again). But I figured I better put up this post before it's gets even more crazy around the house in weeks to come! As some of you might know, I am relocating soon and in the midst of packing up. So there's plenty of stuff to do around the house. And it doesn't really help with my girls having their school vacation now. :-P This is a déjà vu feeling for me and my husband...packing up and moving and bidding farewells to good friends. *sigh* It's really hard for us every single time we go through this, but if you ask me would we have taken up this opportunity to come to Malaysia...knowing what we went through? In a heart beat. :) Being close to family and having good friends around is something that money cannot buy. For now I am just praying hard things will turn out for the best for whatever we have decided to do. Wish me luck!

A couple days back I decided to bake a cheesecake, not your usual cheesecake I would say. It's Cendol Cheesecake! It's been on my to-bake list for awhile and I grab the first opportunity I have to do it. Personally I love cendol, the fragrant aroma of pandan is great. And if you have tasted the popular Indonesian desert, also called Cendol, you'll know that with the combination of gula melaka, makes it deep and intense...a cooling treat that I would very seldom pass. So making cendol cheesecake is like fusing 2 of my favorite desert together...nice!I got this recipe from The Ultimate Indulgence Cheesecake by Chef Alan Kok.

Ingredients for Cendol Cheesecake:
2 slices 7" sponge cake

Filling:
250g cream cheese, room temperature
100ml cendol syrup (gula melaka & coconut milk syrup)

100ml non-dairy whipping cream, whipped

100g cendol (I used 150g)

1 tbsp gelatin powder, mixed in 4tbsp water and double-boiled till dissolved

Decoration
Whipped non-dairy heavy cream

1 piece of Graham cracker, crushed
(optional)

Method:
  • Put a slice of cake into a 7" loose base round baking tin and put into the freezer.
  • Put cream cheese into a mixing bowl, slowly add in cendol syrup and mix until smooth. Add in whipped cream, cendol and mix well. (don't rinse the cendol if you want to preserve the flavour)
  • Lastly add in gelatine mixture and stir well.
  • Pour cream cheese mixture on top of cake and cover with the other slice of sponge cake. Chill overnight in the fridge till set.
  • Remove the cake form tin. Spread whipped cream all over the cake and sprinkle Graham cracker crumbs over the top. (optional) Decorate at will.
The end result was a soft, creamy, cendol like cake. The cream cheese did not over power the overall taste of the cake, so you can still taste the fragrant , pandan, gula melaka and coconut in it. Check out the cendol between the cake....it adds not only flavour but texture to the cake, very special. I was somehow worried that this cake would turn out too sweet, so I kind of hold back on putting too much gula melaka into it. So my cake wasn't up to the sweetness I wanted....o well. :-P But overall a wonderful cake to enjoy and something special and different from your usual cheesecake. ;) Do try it out when you want a cheesecake with an touch of South-East Asia flare, hahaha! ;)
The other item on the list is Parmesan Cheese cookies. Got this from a fellow blogger quite awhile back and I failed to jot down the link to that blog. :-P Anyway, many thanks to that blogger for this recipe...it's good!
Here's the recipe:

Ingredients for Parmesan Cheese Cookies:

60g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 egg
30g caster sugar
35g Parmesan Cheese, finely grated
120g cake flour

Method:

  • Cream butter and sugar together till light and fluffy.
  • Add egg and beat till well mixed.
  • Mix in the Parmesan cheese and stir well.
  • Add cake flour and stir till just combines.
  • Gather the cookie dough and wrap it out into a narrow log with parchment or plastic wrap. Chill for at least 2hrs before use.
  • Preheat the oven to 160°C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
  • Take out cookie dough and unwrap plastic. Slice the dough into 0.5cm thick and place on prepared baking tray.
  • Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes till cookies are slightly golden brown in colour. Rotate tray at mid bake.
If you are a cheese lover, this is an excellent treat to have during tea time. My elder daughter, whom loves cookies and cheese, simply couldn't get enough of this delicious treat! She ate so much of it that I hardly have enough to share with my friends! :-P Personally I had better cheese cookies then this, but if my picker-eater girl likes it...I can make it for her anytime she wants...no problem! ;) So if you have some fresh Parmesan cheese in the fridge and the expiration date is pressing on...do think about trying this out. ;) Perhaps the next time I would try making it with other cheeses with this recipe, but preferably those with a strong cheese taste to it. Happy bakes!

Friday, November 20, 2009

Last day of School

Today is the last day of school....so fast isn't it? Almost seems like just awhile back we just started the school's new year and now we are already collecting report cards! I can proudly say my girls had a good "run" this year. Overall improvements in academic and excellent remarks from teachers....can't ask for more. Thanks teachers! As usual, the school has their parties on this day where every child needs to bring in some finger food to share. I figured since my elder daughter has completed her Kindergarten this year, meaning it will be the last time I'm gonna bake for her in this school. And the teachers in my elder daughter's class enjoys my bake goodies very much. ;) So this time, I decided to make Graduation cupcakes for her, to mark the graduation of her Kindergarten. :) Took me 2 days of planning and preparation to get everything done in time for the party. :-P But I guess it's all worth it after seeing the happy faces crowding around...;) Did 3 separate designs for the cupcakes, but mainly is using butter cream and fondant for the deco. Just like the previous times, I'm using my favorite butter cake and Devil's food cake recipe again. I guess I don't need any surprises now...so better play safe with the same recipes, hahaha!I also tried a couple of new things this time like using the fondant mould to make the teddy bears, the heart with wings and also the ribbons. Got the mini fondant mould from Kitchen Capers, so check it out. ;)Rose cupcake. No I did not buy the fondant rose mould...I made it myself! How? U-tube is how! I actually learn it from a video on u-tube that shows you how to make a fondant / gum paste rose. So I watched it a couple times and did some hands on and voilà! Will try to find the link and post it up for you all the next time. :) Love making the roses, so it's no surprise I like this design the best! But it does takes a bit of patience and a steady hand to make them. Actually kept one of this rose cupcake for myself as a reward for all the hard work I put in for making so many cupcakes for my girls!! ;)

Due to temperature, the fondant was actually giving way and softening, even though I did mould everything in advance and drying it out. You can see the graduation cap's corner tips were sagging a little! But I guess the kids wouldn't mind that, hahaha! Had used the prepackaged chocolate fondant to mould the caps since the colour is pretty dark. ;)
It was a good thing that I managed to complete everything in time and transport the cupcakes safely to school. BTW, I should probably show you what I baked for my younger daughter's party too. It's Peanut Butter-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes.
These cupcakes are not as pretty as those I made for my elder daughter but they are definitely yummy! If you are peanut butter lover, do not pass this one. I got this recipe from my new favorite cupcake book "Martha Stewart's Cupcakes".

Ingredients for Peanut Butter-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes (makes 12 normal size):
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

4 ounces semisweet chocolate ( I used 60% Lindt)

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate ( I used 85% Lindt)
3/4 cup caster sugar (I used 2 tbsp less)
3 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

Peanut Butter Filling (recipe follows)

Ingredients for Peanut Butter-filling (enough for 12 cupcakes):
4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

3/4 cup smooth peanut butter (I used organic unsweetened)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • Stir all the ingredients together until smooth. Use immediately.
Method for Peanut Butter-Filled Chocolate cupcakes:
  • Preheat the oven to 175°C. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together plain flour, baking powder and salt. Put butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simmering water; stir until melted and smooth. Let cool for later use.
  • Whisk granulated sugar into cooled chocolate mixture. Add eggs, whisk until mixture is smooth. Add flour mixture and stir until well incorporated.
  • Spoon 2 tbsp chocolate batter into each lined cup, followed by 1 tbsp peanut butter filling. Repeat with another tbsp of chocolate batter. Swirl top of cupcake batter with a wooden toothpick to create patterns (So rush that I forgotten to do that myself!!)
  • Bake, rotating half way through, until a cake tester inserted comes out clean, with only a few moist crumbs, about 40 minutes.
  • Transfer to wire rack to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored in air-tight containers up to 3 days at room temperature.
The whole house was filled with chocolate cum peanut heavenly scent when it was baked! Smelling it was already a pleasure for me, hahaha!
The cake turned out moist, with a stronger peanut taste over chocolate. But I guess if you choose to have more chocolate taste over peanut, you can put less filling and add more chocolate into your batter. ;) But I like it this way...one bite and I'm hooked...had to finish the whole cake till I'm satisfied. :P Do try it out when you want a quick chocolate / peanut butter fix...definitely worth it. Just remember not to over bake to ensure it's still moist. :)
BTW, when I picked up my elder daughter from school just a few hours ago...I saw the whole class was crying! Why? Sad that it's last day of school and they won't be seeing each other again! Yeah not your usual..."Yippee, school's out!" thing. ;-P They were actually sad about not coming back to this school again. Oh my... I was almost driven to tears too when I saw my girl sobbing so helplessly and holding her teacher's hand and hugging her friends! But I was happy that she found friendship in these couple of years here. She too was working frantically last night while I was baking away,...she was making farewell cards for all her teachers and some close friends. :-P Anyway, I comforted her and carry her to the car and told her it's alright, separation is part of life and don't be too hard on herself. :) Especially since she's only 6. :-P

Final Thoughts: Sorry if you find that I have not been posting as often as I used to. I assure you that I still bake a lot, just that it's mostly the usual family favorites that I've already posted. Furthermore, now I am in the midst of packing up and ready to move out of Malaysia. So there's always seems to have more urgent stuff to attend to rather then having the leisure to seat down and blog like I would normally do. I even tried a couple new recipes in the past week but still couldn't find the time to post it up. :-P So little time and so much to do!! So bare with me if you will, during this transition stage of mine...I promise I will try to post up more delicious recipes & post for all to see. For now, please take care and have a great weekend!

Monday, November 16, 2009

Much Blessed & Birthday Bash

First of all, I would like to start off this post to thank all those friends of mine whom take the time out of their busy busy schedule to celebrate my birthday with me. ~touched~ This year's birthday for me is indeed a very memorable one. Seriously, I couldn't have asked for more. My words will probably be a poor expression on how fortunate I am to have found such good friends around me during these short 3 years here in Malaysia. Up till now, it is still hard for me to accept the fact that I will be leaving them soon and the possibility of not meeting up again for many years to come. I know that saying farewell will be extremely hard but as I look fondly back at the good times we all share together, undoubtedly it will forever stay with me deep in my heart. With their moral support and unconditional friendship they shared with me, I know it will help me embark my new future ahead. Thank you my dear friends!

Okay, before I get all teary and depressed to go on, I have better get on with the post. :-P
Last Friday, my friends has decided to bring me out to dinner at Dave's Cafe @ 1 Utama for my birthday. ;) I was really looking forward to it as I have yet dine there before and furthermore, spending time with my girlfriends was always a blast! ;) But before I start off about the restaurant, let me show you that lovely cake my friend Marianne made for me!!! Isn't it the sweetest cake ?!?
I was soooo touched seeing this beautiful cake! Really put the cake I made for her on her birthday to shame! *sorry Marianne!* Wish I would be here to make her a birthday cake next year....Anyway, will come back to this pretty piece of edible "art" later after I tell you about Dave's Cafe.

I notice lately whenever I want to blog about a place I dine at, I always failed to snap a picture of the restaurant's sign board & entrance. There are several examples of my forgetfulness like this lately and that resulted me not blogging about it. *sigh* However, I really want to remember this occasion, so heck that picture and let's get on with the food! ;)
Ordered this delicious and refreshing drink, Strawberry Cooler. ;) Nice!
Started off with an appetizing Casear salad with Bacon and quail's eggs, a very nice combo... fresh and flavorful. ;) We ordered also this Stuffed Portabella Mushroom. It is packed with mozzarella, caramelized onions, crispy bacon and topped with Romain lettuce, cherry tomatoes and freshly grated Parmesan cheese! The mushrooms are still juicy and eating it with bacon was perfect. Yummy! Ordered a pasta entrée which is Ham & Meatballs in Carbonara Sauce...very good! The creamy sauce was not overpowering in taste. It's prefectly seasoned with the savory meats and goes really well with the al-dente pasta....delicious!
The whole idea of going to Dave's Cafe in the first place was to try out their BBQ baby back ribs. So I was looking forward in tasting this entrée. Overall very flavorful with a nice "charred" taste as the back, but unfortunately I find it not as tender as I hoped it will be. Yeah...not those falling off the bones kind if you know what I mean. ;)
Last entrée was their Aussie pizza. Thin crispy pizza crust topped with cheeses, canadian ham, olives, capers and some spices. Simple but yet a winner to me. Good enough to go for 2nd slice after stuffing all that food earlier! :-P Interested to check out Dave's Cafe? Here's the address:

Dave's Cafe (non-halal)
Lot G209, Promenade 1Utama 47800
Petaling Jaya


The highlight of the dinner...my birthday cake of course! I was so looking forward to see what my good friend Marianne made for me, hahaha! And as expected, she did a super duper job and I couldn't say enough thanks to her. :)
I barely had the heart to cut the cake when it was time to serve! But I would be kidding myself if I say I don't want to get a taste of this delicious cake! Hahaha!
So deep & so dark...I like! Marianne knew I love chocolate, so she made a super moist and chocolaty chocolate cake inside. Yoo-hoo! Am I lucky or what, hahaha! If I had not stuffed myself with all the food we ordered, I would have taken a 2nd slice of this cake no problem! BTW, Marianne is a home baker that takes in cake orders. so if you like what you see...drop me a note, I'll let her know. ;)

Had a great time chatting and sharing stories with my friends...as usual time flies like nobody's business. :-P It always feels this way when I'm out with my girlfriends. *sigh* If only we have more time and not worrying about me leaving Malaysia so soon. :-P Anyway, I shan't go into that again...and end this post with a happy note. Happy Birthday To Me!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

S'more Brownies

What do you do when you need some comfort. Something to fill that emptiness or a "quick fix" for that boredom. The easiest for me would be to hug my love ones, especially to my little girls, stealing a kiss on their cheeks. ;) Else food would usually be the next candidate. :D What is your comfort food? Sad to say, junk food are usually the ones that can satisfy one's need for comfort the most! Like ice-cream, potato chips and even something spicy like tom yam soup! The list goes on and on. One of my all time favorite comfort food (which I believe is also many of you out there) is chocolate. That is what I will reach for when I need that rich, dark but sweet, creamy, satisfying, melt in your mouth feeling. So I salute the Mayans for discovering cacao trees! It's no surprise that I like everything chocolate(dark chocolate to be specific), so this time I decided to try out yet another chocolate desert, S'more brownies! Yum-O!Doesn't look all that pretty I know, but it is a really good chocolate desert I can assure you that! ;) I found this wonderful recipe from Joy The Baker whom got it from Bon Appetite magazine (not sure which edition). For those who doesn't know what is S'mores, click on this link to read more about it. ;) I love S'mores! And this is not the first time I made S'more deserts, check out my S'more cupcakes here.

I did modified the recipe a little to adjust to my taste, basically less sweet more chocolate. For my own reference, here it is:

Ingredients for S’more Brownies:

100g all purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 teaspoon salt

135g unsalted butter

140g quality dark chocolate, chopped
2 large eggs + 1 egg white
125g dark brown sugar

100g granulated sugar

1 teaspoons vanilla
extract
1 cup graham cracker, roughly crushed with your hands
12 big marshmallows

Method:
  • Place chopped chocolate and butter in a heat proof bowl and place over simmering water to double boil. Stir well till everything has melted and smooth. Let cool and set aside.
  • Grease a 20cm by 20cm square baking pan and line with parchment. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  • In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs and both suagrs together till well blended. Add vanilla and mix again. Add in the cooled chocolate mixture and mix well till combined.
  • Add the flour, baking powder and salt into the mixture and mix till just combined.
  • Lastly, add in the graham crackers into the batter and gently fold in with a spatula.
  • Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place the 12 marshmallows over the top.
  • Bake in the oven for 40 to 45 minutes till the marshmallow is golden brown and puffed up. The tester should come out with moist cake crumbs as we should never overbaked a brownie. ;)
Looks like mine got a bit "burnt" on the top! Guess I did over baked it a little. ;-P But luckily the brownie still turned out nice and moist. ;) And I was glad that I less the sugar and more the chocolate, because the sweetness was perfect (taking into consideration of the additional marshmallow on top). And the intensity of the chocolate was just right. ;) If you cannot find Graham crackers in the grocer you frequent, just replace it with any sweet cookies you like, should work just nice. ;) Looking at the picture above made me want to have another slice right now! Okay, better keep this post short and sweet before you guys think I'm getting too long-winded these days, haha! Now I can go get "comfy" with cake, hahaha, see ya!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Prawns in bean curd skin surprise and Pai Bao (排包)

Ever wonder how all those restaurant chefs come up with all those creative and delicious dishes? I do, hahaha! I would sometimes think "Woah! How come I didn't think of that? It's really good!" But of course they have their secret, and their skills involved, something that we should not compare with the home cooked version. But believe me...it's the home cooked meals that usually let people think of warm, home and your Mummy (or Daddy)!! So get your wok ready and cook up something special (in your own special way) for your family to enjoy today! For me? I came up with a dish that you might feel that it's pretty similar to a Dim Sum dish (sorry can't remember the name). :) But instead of Dim Sum version...I twisted it and made it savory enough to go with steam rice for dinner! ;)
My family and I are big eaters when we come to tofu and bean curd. Well, it's a family favorite! :) Every week we would consume at least 2 egg tofu, 1 block of plain tofu and perhaps some bean curd skin for vegetarian dishes. It's healthy, inexpensive and so so versatile! :) You might have noticed that most of the past dishes I introduced involved one soy or the other. :) I remember when I was young, my mom would coax us to eat tofu saying that it would make our skin as white and silky as the tofu, hahaha! 

Interested in this dish? And wondering what surprise is it? Here's the recipe:

6 large prawns, peeled and devained, leaving the tail shell attached
(*rubbed with 1 tsp baking soda and rinsed off well after 10 minutes)
2 small ripe bananas, peeled and cut length wise into 3 pieces each => yeah, no surprise actually!
1 to 2 sheets of bean curd skin (those precooked in freezer vegetarian section, not dried ones)
Marinate:
1 tsp light soy sauce
dash of pepper
1/2 tsp oyster sauce

Method:
  • Marinate the prawns with the marinate ingredients and let seat for 30 minutes.
  • Cut the bean curd skins so as to have adequate amount to wrap both prawn and banana inside properly. See picture below:
  • No toothpicks are required for my case, but if you like, please use them to secure the bean curd skin on to the prawns.
  • After wrapping, heat up the wok with frying oil at medium heat. Add the prawns in and fry till golden brown and crisp. Dish up and let cool on paper towels. Serve as horderves or with steam rice.

Serve it while it is still hot and crisp. So when you first bite into it, the crispy, savory bean curd skin combined with the soft sweet banana and crunch of the sweet prawns....yummy!

Show you a snap shot of the inside....can see it's still moist on the inside.  I was pretty satisfied with this creation...hopefully I can come up with something more delicious next time. :)

It's been sometime since I last made some bread. So this time, I decided to make Pai Bao . Pai Bao(排包)is probably one of my favorite pick whenever I visit a bakery store. I remembered that was the first thing I asked my husband to buy for me hours after I delivered my 2nd baby girl, hahaha! Craving for it I guess! It is like a sweet bun, but it usually arranged and  baked in vertical rows. This super soft, rich egg bread is a treat to snack on anytime of the day. I have been meaning to find a good recipe and make this bread for awhile now. And since Florence from Do What I Like posted up her recipe...it gave me all the more reason to try it out. ;) Thanks Florence!

I have made 1.5X of the recipe, so here is the portion of the ingredients I came up with. (And still I regret not making more, hahaha) I will not be posting the method since I'm quite familiar with bread kneading steps. But if you like to take a look, please proceed to the original recipe.

Ingredients for Pai Bao Bread:
375g bread flour
75g caster sugar
3/4 tsp salt
7g instant active yeast
2 egg yolks
4 tbsp condense milk
100ml heavy whipping cream 
100ml water (should be milk but I used water by mistake...but still turn out great)

75g pre-fermented dough (pls see original recipe)
50g butter


Sugar syrup (optional)

1 tsp sugar + 1 tbsp warm water

*Simple sugar syrup for brushing the bun top after baking. 



This is such a delicious bread! I can literaly eat it everyday! ;0 Super soft and mildly sweet...eat it plain or with a thin spread of butter, serve up with your favorite warm beverage...such pleasures in life! 
Again tempting you with the picture of this soft bread. You can see the thin "shreds" ....need I say more to convince you? Go...go now, and make this bread today. ;) Have fun making it though!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Little Ballerinas

It's my daughter's ballet school's teacher / Principle's birthday last Friday. I have always love the idea of making those cute ballerinas or even their shoes on cakes or cupcakes. And I think to myself..."this is the "golden" opportunity for me to make some ballerina cupcakes!" Furthermore it will cheer up the teacher and the little ballerinas if I do bring them a nice treat during class. ;) So I did not think twice and got to work immediately since my girls have their ballet lesson every Saturday. I have to say my girls are always very supportive when I were to do such "projects", because they are always very excited about the decorations I put on my cakes/cupcakes. ;) I have once again used butter cake and Devil's food cake for the cupcakes, same as my last project. ;) Anyway, here is what I came up with: Sorry, I was again so rush for time that I have failed to take nice pictures with good lighting. :-P *don't I always* I was decorating the cupcakes up to the very last minute before we hurry off to lesson yesterday morning! Good thing my girls prepped themselves and waited patiently for me to finish up everything. *Lucky me* :)
So let me present to you one at a time my work for your viewing pleasure. ;) First up is a pair of fondant moulded ballerina shoes. This is probably the most popular idea for cupcakes. And it wasn't too hard moulding the shoes too...well comparing to what I did last time. ;)
Ballet dress, which again I used tinted fondant to do the job. A simple and yet nice design...I think, hahaha! My little daughter love this design the best...she kept saying "I want the pink dress!" For a moment I was thinking is she asking for a new pink dress or the cupcake, hahaha!

Last design is Dancing Ballerina. I probably came up with
6 different dancing poses with this design. Professionally speaking...they are very likely not correct ballet poses, but with a fine tip and piping bag...I guess these are the best I can come up with. :-P Wonder what are the poses? Okay, here's the photo I took of the 11 ballerinas after I just finish piping them the night before. ;)

With my pair of shaking hands, I had still managed to pipe, one shy of a dozen dancing ballerinas on the cupcakes. I just hope the teacher won't laughed at some of the poses I made up, hahaha!
Some of the cupcakes are individually packed, to be given to the real little ballerinas in my daughter's class. I have also packed a box of four for the teacher to enjoy. It's funny she later SMS me and told me she did not have the heart to bite into the cupcakes! She said it's too nice to be eaten, hahaha! I am so glad that she likes them so much and I was further rewarded when my daughter's friends all overjoyed and thank me upon receiving a cupcake each. ;)
Frankly speaking I had so much fun making these cupcakes. If I have to do it over again...I will! ;0 I guess it's all about the love and passion in baking. ;) Hopefully there will be a lot more of these fun and challenging projects for me in the future! Have a good day friends!